South West Coast Path – Day 4
Combe Martin to Woolacombe
21 April 2023
Distance on Coast Path: 22.6km
Total distance: 22.6km; ascent: 870m
Walking time: 5h 52′
Total time: 7h 29′
Overnight: The Fortescue Arms, Ossaborough (on the B3343 above Woolacombe)
The day started with a steep climb on tarmac out of Combe Martin and past the campsite. The path then hugs the coast to Watermouth Bay and beyond until it joins the A399 shortly before a sign announcing “Ilfracombe”.
Frustratingly, the sign may be true administratively but is optimistic as far as the walker hoping to achieve another stage of the journey is concerned. This was Hele and Hele Bay, most notable for a petrol station and a car park. Between Hele and Ilfracombe proper there was a surprisingly steep ascent to a viewpoint on Beacon Hill where Ilfracombe and its harbour came into view.
Coming down the longer and less steep far side I met two people going slowly in the same direction. I recognised the woman from breakfast in my B&B; she was on her own and left 20 minutes before I did. A teddy bear hung from the back of her rucksack. The man was elderly, wearing a ‘Canada’ baseball cap. There was a hint of desperation in the woman’s eyes as she recognised me from that morning.
‘Canada’ was going slowly and talking non-stop, not pausing to listen to replies or have a conversation – which at that point was about prostate cancer! It turned out that ‘Teddy Bear’s’ husband had died of this not long ago; she was intending to walk the whole of the Coast Path raising money for the cancer charity. When they met, Canada was going in the opposite direction but turned round and stuck to her when she warned him that walking to Combe Martin wouldn’t be a quick and easy stroll. We all walked together into Ilfracombe, Canada moving slowly and continuing to talk.
We missed the Path, probably at a building site by the harbour. I managed to make a break across a grassy area and a low wall to reach the quay. Once on the far side of the harbour I saw Teddy Bear had also got away and was walking across the sand towards me. We went to look at the very large statue/sculpture at the entrance to the harbour – ‘Verity’, by Damien Hirst. Read more about it on Wikipedia.
On my own again (Teddy Bear was stopping in Ilfracombe) it took me longer than it should to find my way out of the town. Waymarks had vanished but after a bit of road walking I was able to pick up the Path again on the edge of the built up area. I had spent about an hour longer than I had expected in the town.
From then on it was a series of ups and downs building up to be the most cumulative ascent of the 7 days I was walking. I took a break in the tiny village of Lee. It still has a pub (not on the Path) but the hotel shown on the OS maps is now a boarded-up and semi-derelict shell whose windows have been used as target practice by the local youth.
It was after Lee that I first saw Ida again in the distance. Although I had passed her Combe Martin campsite before she left I knew she had planned to take the bus to Ilfracombe, so I wasn’t surprised to see her ahead. I passed the lighthouse at Bull Point and carried on (more ups and downs) on the Path out to Morte Point. This is a dramatic headland where the coastline turns south to form Barnstaple Bay. The tide was rising, and the sea beyond the point looked turbulent and powerful as the currents collided.
Ida wasn’t in sight as I rounded the Point but I saw her again a little further on and caught up while she waited on a bench after seeing me coming. We walked together into Woolacombe. She went to find her B&B; I phoned for a taxi to take me a couple of miles inland to my overnight stop. Our plans for the next few days were slightly different, but we agreed we were bound to meet again somewhere.
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